Religion: Thirty-Two New Hats

By war’s end, the College of Cardinals looked as though it had been raked by a machine gun. Of its full complement of 70 cardinalates, only 38 were filled. This week a special edition of L’Osservatore Romano announced that Pius XII had called a consistory for Feb. 18 to name 32 new princes of the church.

The U.S. will get four new red hats:

Archbishops Francis Joseph Spellman of New York, Samuel Alphonsus Stritch of Chicago, Edward Mooney of Detroit, John Joseph Glennon of St. Louis. The U.S., which has had seven American Cardinals in its history, never had more than four living at the same time (1924-1938), will now have five—with present Cardinal Dennis Dougherty of Philadelphia.